Images from LA: Karma pays back Red Bulls

We’re sitting here in LAX at the Southwest terminal, just waiting for our flight back to Houston tonight. Yes, we came to MLS Cup this year, an annual pilgrimage we’ve made more or less consistently since the inaugural 1996 game which saw Noah and his Ark as the halftime show. It was sad, though, that this was the first time we’ve come as Dynamo fans–with no Dynamo to watch.

There’s no time to get too in-depth on our observations, so I’ll throw out a few images, including some notably regular Dynamo fans, and get to as many words as I can before we board the plane tonight.

Update:

We’re back home in Houston now after the flight from LA. Here are just a few quick thoughts on today:

*As for the game, it was decent for entertainment value, but not spectacular. There was the stretch of one or two minutes where two goals were scored, but there was very little sustained pressure from either team–especially during the second half. For a spell in the first half, New York had a sequence of attacks that had good chances of creating goals, while Columbus wasn’t doing much of anything. This is where turnabout was in order: after the Red Bulls dispatched Houston and Real Salt Lake earlier in the playoffs by miraculously keeping them out of their net, it seemed maybe Columbus could pull the same trick on New York. (Of course, Columbus did break out of that doldrum later in the game, and pressed the issue with more authority than that early stretch in the first half)>

*Dane Richards from the Red Bulls is frightening how fast he is. Like the wind. I’m still shaking my head at how he chased down players going after balls and how he completely kept Crew defenders off balance.

*Schelotto was always triple teamed, and it seemed like he always made something happen in those cases.

*MLS reports the game as sold out, and indeed it looked like every ticket was taken just by the pattern of seating in the stadium (there weren’t any outlier blocks of unoccupied seats). That said, it never felt like a full stadium, like Houston’s playoff games or even the way Chicago and Salt Lake’s stadiums looked on TV for their playoff games.

*The Crew and Red Bulls should be proud of their traveling fans and supporters groups. They did an excellent job of proudly representing their clubs. I sat closer to the Red Bulls section, and they kept the music and the noising raining down without stop the entire game.

Crew fans celebrate at the end

*We met Dwayne DeRosario before the game (where he signed my wife’s Stuart Holden shirt) next to the display set up to increase awareness in MLS’ fight against malaria. He couldn’t have been more gracious. Indeed, Dwayne, we’ll see you on Wednesday night.

A Dynamo ambassador (“See you on Wednesday!”)

*In a slightly unusual twist, my wife and I didn’t really do anything MLS related in the day or two leading up to the game. There are always events going on, such as the supporters summit, and the commissioner gives a Q&A session for the fans; but for various reasons, we chose to skip that this year. I’m really looking forward to the day when the Dynamo get their stadium and Houston hosts many MLS Cups: with the downtown location, I easily see MLS Cup weekends in Houston being among the best the league will have to offer. It’s just not that enticing to get fans to congregate in the bland landscape of Carson, California for a big, ripping weekend party. But in downtown Houston, with hotels, stadium, bars, restaurants, and rail line all in walking distance of each other in pleasant November weather, MLS Cup Houston will be like no other.

We just need to get that stadium, though. It is painful going to an event like this and seeing another team’s beautiful soccer stadium–an actual home for their team. Maybe someday (and in another discussion).